plant-inspired food + lifestyle

The Hacienda’s new vegan menu features sopapillas and more

I recently sampled the new vegan menu at The Hacienda on Henderson and I would like to report that the sopapillas changed my life. Typically served with honey, sopapillas are fried pastries topped with cinnamon and sugar. Naturally, the vegan version is served with agave nectar instead.

I am quite tempted to dedicate this post solely to the glory of those heavenly pastries. However, I will try my best to contain myself and at least briefly describe the other dishes I tried at the menu’s launch party this past weekend.

A few Vegan Club members and I went to try the new vegan items, and I have no regrets in saying that we ordered dessert first.

Sometimes dessert must come first.

We asked the waitress, Ashley, if she could bring the sopapillas out before the main dishes, and she graciously agreed.

The sopapillas were sweet, buttery bliss, dusted with cinnamon sugar. A drizzle of agave nectar completed the perfection.

I don’t think I had ever had sopapillas before. Or perhaps I did, but the taste of these erased any past experiences from my mind.

After we finished dessert (two plates, no less), we moved onto the main menu items, which included enchiladas, quesadillas and a variety of vegan tacos.

For most of the dishes, soyrizo could be added for $2. Each taco dish was served with rice and beans: pinto, black or charro. Ashley confirmed that none of the beans contained lard.

Before we even ordered our entrees, I already knew the sopapillas would be my favorite part of the meal.
However, the potato and soyrizo tacos came in at a close second, followed by the veggie enchiladas. To read about the entrees we tried, check out the slideshow below.

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All the food was great. The only thing I was not crazy about was the rice, because it was just white rice, and it was packed much too tightly for my taste. I would love to see Spanish rice or a whole grain option in the future.

Complimentary salsa at The Hacienda.

In any case, I will definitely be returning for sopapillas in the future, and I want to try the quesadillas as well. The service was wonderful–Ashley was helpful and friendly in answering all our questions. We had a lovely spot on the patio, which also happens to be dog-friendly if you want to take your canine friends with you.

The price range isn’t bad. If you go with a group, I’d say expect to pay about $8.00 to $15.00, depending on how many orders of sopapillas you get.

The Hacienda on Henderson

If you are curious about the rest of the vegan menu items (for a total of twelve plant-based dishes), The Hacienda has posted the menu to their facebook!

While you are on their page, please feel free to remind them how awesome they are for coming up with this awesome vegan menu with the help of my friends at Texas Mercy for Animals and Dallas Vegan (12/4/12 correction: the menu was actually formed with the help of Hallie Kaplan, marketing manager and Claire Amiel–thanks for the clarification about this group effort, Laura!)

What dishes did you like the best, or which ones are you most excited about trying? Please let me know in the comments below!

“The price range isn’t bad. If you go with a group, I’d say expect to pay about $8.00 to $15.00, depending on how many orders of sopapillas you get” is genius.

And Hallie did meet with nora from MFA to talk about the menu and they even brought some samples of vegan products for the kitchen to play with. Seriously, group effort. I think we are all just STOKED about the menu.

Hallie form Hacienda was awesome to reach out to us at Dallas Vegan to get some ideas for the menu as well as to help spread the word. We “enlisted” Nora from MFA to collaborate with Hallie on some ideas for the menu. Then, we helped Hacienda promote the new menu at the Texas State Veggie Fair, as well as with Vegan Drinks and the launch party! But yes, agreed with Claire (who also played a big part) – it was truly a group effort! Congrats to everyone!

Where’s the next restaurant to have a vegan menu? I’m thinking Italian… 🙂